


Of Processing, Bad Lying and Kissing (Or Felicity knows and Needs to Process)

by weonlyliveonce



Series: Of Leather Pants, Random Kissing and Illegal Activities [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 00:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1707998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weonlyliveonce/pseuds/weonlyliveonce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, Felicity knows. But she can't actually tell Oliver she knows because she needs to process this whole thing, right? Only, he keeps popping up in her life and kissing her randomly and it's totally not normal. Especially seeing as she knows and everything and for some reason, instead of him knowing she knows? He finds out she has a cat. That doesn't exist. Because she hasn't processed any of this. Four Times Sequel!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Processing, Bad Lying and Kissing (Or Felicity knows and Needs to Process)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so, this is the long awaited sequel to Four Times and I hope it lives up to expectations. I know it's been a long time coming but, well, the real world in the form of uni work got in the way, as well as actual work-work. But yeah, 5000 words in a week is not that much fun. Let me tell you that. So this got put on the back burner for a while and I am truly sorry about that. I also started it a bunch of different times before Felicity decided to go in this direction. 
> 
> Anyway, I want to thank every one of you for the kudos and the reviews! You are all amazing! When I got back into writing, I didn't think the first story up would quite get that reaction! It's amazing and you are all really, really awesome. So, thank you!
> 
> Also, to any one who hasn't read 'The Four Times Felicity Meets the Hood', I strongly advise that you do because this won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read it. I am not just shamelessly promoting my other story. :)
> 
> So please, I hope everyone likes this and, be warned, this is actually insanely long. But please, enjoy it!
> 
> And, as always, I don't own 'Arrow'. I do wish I could be friends with Felicity and smack Oliver on the upside of his head occasionally. Happy reading!

Felicity swears the fifth time the Hood saves her; she really didn’t need to be saved.

She’d gone out to drinks. With a man. Which turned out to be a horrible idea because she’s now standing outside a bar in the Glades arguing with him about how _this wasn’t a date_.

Because, oh my God, she knows who the Hood is and she’s made out with him and going on a date with someone else? So not an added complication she is looking for.

But Trevor from Accountings really doesn’t need to know that and now she’s stuck trying to explain to him how utterly ridiculous it is to consider drinks at a bar in the Glades is a date. You know, without telling him that she knows who the Hood is.

Which is the real reason why she doesn’t want this to be a date.

Turns out, Trevor from Accounting is not letting this go. Apparently, he’s wanted to ask her out for a while now and knows that her ‘I just got out of a relationship’ is a total lie. Which would be really creepy if a lacrosse player in college hadn’t stalked her.

So Felicity purses her lips and really looks at the man in front of her. He’s only an inch or so taller than her and his eyes and hair a nice brown. He has a slightly off center smile which is charming and – damn it – he’s not the Hood.

He’s not abnormally tall, he doesn’t have stubble, his body is not chiseled to perfection and Felicity is pretty sure that Trevor from Accountings would not fill out leather pants anywhere near as well as the Hood.

There is also no way this guy could lift her off her feet and kiss her senseless.

“Look, Trevor,” and, now that she thinks about it, Trevor? Really? She’s out with a guy named Trevor? “I’m sorry. But I’m really not looking for anything right now.”

Totally not a lie. She’s not looking for anything and she wasn’t even before the whole vigilante-turns-out-to-be-returned-from-the-dead-playboy thing. And also, you know, the vigilante-kissed-her-senseless-on-the-fire-escape thing.

In a matter of something like a month and a half, the Hood has screwed up her life in such a way Felicity didn’t even know was possible.

“Aw, come on Felicity. It doesn’t have to be a relationship. It can just be a casual thing.” Trevor says, stepping a bit closer to her and smiling.

Felicity takes a step away from him and frowns at what she’s pretty sure he’s implying. Because…ew.

“No. Sorry, Trevor. It’s not going to happen and, seriously? Can’t you hire people for ‘casual relationships’?” She asks and then promptly realizes she most likely shouldn’t have said that.

Trevor’s smiling mouth becomes an angry scowl and his hand whips out to latch painfully onto her wrist as he registers what she means.

Yep, totally shouldn’t have said that.

“Please, you’re lucky that I even decided to – ”

“Let her go.” The Hood’s voice is low, filled with gravel and menacing.

It is also so unexpected that Trevor almost immediately releases her wrist, his scowl dropping as he seems to realize that he’s facing the imposing leather clad figure of the Hood.

Felicity stills at it, too.

Crap. She so did not want to run into him until she’d processed exactly what she had discovered a week and a half ago.

Which she clearly hasn’t because she’s still referring to him as the Hood in her head and not by his actual name. That she knows. Because he was dumb enough to visit her without the guise of green leather.

That she is obsessing over. The green leather and not who he is. She hasn’t processed that bit, yet.

“Get out of here.”

Trevor doesn’t say anything to her as he immediately obeys the order. He appears to be too busy doing a weird half-run away from them, clearly terrified of the Hood and only to eager to obey his command.

Felicity stares after him. Some part of her registering that he is in no way a gentleman. He’s just left her standing on a street with the city’s resident vigilante – who, by all accounts, is a violent lunatic.                                                                             

Not that she thinks he’s a violent lunatic. Well, she doesn’t really, anymore. It’s hard to believe that someone’s a violent lunatic when they’ve expanded effort trying to save you from muggers and cars and…well, a violent lunatic wouldn’t have listened to her babbling and found it funny.

“Well, that was rude. Who leaves someone alone on the street with you?” Felicity asks the questions rhetorically and she’s sort of hoping that he’ll be offended enough to leave her alone.

Which is highly doubtful considering how all their other meetings have gone. Apart from the last two meetings, the Hood has proven to be a pretty good sport regarding pretty much everything that’s left her mouth since she first met him.

Apparently, this time around was going to be no exception.

“Are you alright?” His voice is still gravelly and it’s still hot and Felicity stares at him because it wasn’t like she was really in trouble beforehand.

Well, before she opened her mouth anyway.

“Did it look like I was in trouble? Where did you come from, anyway? You just seem to…appear out of nowhere. Like, every time.” Felicity snaps at him, suddenly remembering that she’s irritated with him.

By him, Felicity does actually mean _all_ two of him that she’s met. Because apparently, he thought that he could pull the wool over her eyes and she _hates_ it when people try and trick her. Or try and downplay her intelligence, or pull her into a whole lot of trouble.

“Are you alright?”

This time, the Hood takes a step towards her and Felicity takes a step away from him. Almost immediately, Felicity knows that she’s made the wrong move and that he’s amused. Mostly because she’s retreating from him and Felicity is pretty sure he knows half of the reason is…well, half the reason is that she’s irritated with him.

The other half is because she is insanely attracted to him. She’s spent weeks thinking about how that one kiss has pretty much blown every kiss she’s ever had out of the water.

She’s pretty sure that’s the side he’s working on.

As irritated and freaked out as she is, Felicity is pretty sure she wouldn’t mind another kiss.

“I’m fine. Like really, I’m totally – ” Felicity cuts off abruptly when her back hits a cold brick wall.

He’s backed her into the side of the building. He’s totally deliberately backed her against a brick wall and Felicity swallows, hard, as he presses against her lightly.

She can think of absolutely nothing to say as she sucks in a breath. Actually, the only thing she can think is…trouble, trouble, _trouble_.

Oh dear lord is she in trouble.

“Um. You know, I didn’t really need help.” Her breath hitches slightly as his hand comes up to stroke down the side of her face.

“Felicity.”

Honestly? Felicity didn’t know that he could sound hotter than the low, gravelly growl. Right up until he says her name _like that_. Enunciated clearly, still a little low, still gravelly and…she is in so much _trouble_.

Before he does anything, however, they suddenly hear shouts of laughter as a group of people stride out of the bar she’s left.

Almost immediately, the Hood pulls away and whatever he was planning to do goes up in smoke as he runs one finger down her cheek before disappearing.

Leaving Felicity standing there, attempting to find the breath that has deserted her and restart her brain.

Processing, Felicity thinks suddenly, she really needs to start processing what the hell is happening to her.

She really needs to start processing how much trouble she’s in.

* * *

Felicity discovers that processing doesn’t actually work unless, well, you have time to process.

She hasn’t.

It’s like…as soon as she found out who the hell the Hood was; the whole computer system at Queen Consolidated went into meltdown.

So, processing went out the window around the time the top tier of management started ringing the department every half hour because something else had gone wrong. One manager actually threatened to drop his computer out his window.

His secretary assured Felicity after that the man wasn’t sure how to open his window yet, so the computer was safe.

All in all, it turned out to be a sucky week.

Especially seeing as she’s now stuck here after hours becomes her supervisor sucks and she…well, she’s wanted to rewrite this damn program since she first started because _clearly_ she is the only one who has any idea how to write a program that won’t crash everyone’s computers.

Felicity is so intent on the piece of code she’s working on that when her desk phone rings, she’s pretty sure she jumps about three feet and bangs her knee while she’s at it.

As she rubs her knee and stares at her code, Felicity narrows her eyes and listens to the request Walter Steele’s Executive Assistant makes for her to come up to his office in fifteen minutes.

As she hangs up, Felicity makes a face and then wonders why she is heading up to the President’s office in fifteen minutes.

She sincerely hopes that she isn’t getting fired.

That would royally suck.

And be another thing to process.

Still making what she’s positive is a really unattractive face, Felicity stands and starts to march towards the lift because if she’s going to get fired then, well, she’s going to march towards the lift.

As she approaches the lift, Felicity idly wonders if the office is always this dark at the end of the day. Or maybe it’s just because winter is coming and it gets darker more quickly. Or maybe it’s because by 4:45pm pretty much everyone but her has left.

Whatever, the office is dark.

Felicity rubs her hands down her pencil skirt as she approaches the elevator and stops dead when she hears the elevator doors slide open.

She stops dead when Oliver Queen steps out.

For a second, they simply stare at each other and Felicity can feel her heart hammering inside her chest. The man is ridiculously good looking and, and, and he’d kissed her and was the vigilante.

And is most likely _looking_ for her because no one ever comes down to the IT department after hours.

Stay calm, Felicity, she tells herself. Be smooth and don’t let him know something’s up.

“Felicity. Hello.” Oliver says it smoothly; offering a smile Felicity thinks is supposed to be charming but just makes him look…uncomfortable.

She also notices that the way he holds himself is really stiff. Like he’s tense and all that…tenseness is holding his _very_ muscled shoulders in a _very_ firm line. Because she somehow doubts he had posture lessons when he was younger.

Then again, the rich _are_ different. So, it’s a possibility.

Realizing that he’s probably waiting for an answer, Felicity meets his gaze and decides that she likes his face.

She hasn’t really seen it before now but he’s got a great jaw line and the stubble is really working for him and there’s this quirk to his mouth, like he’s waiting for her to say something funny.

His eyes too, Felicity thinks, she likes his eyes. There’s something compelling about his eyes and the way he’s observing her, with this warmth that’s almost tentative. Like, he’s not sure if it will match the charming, practice smile he’s offered.

Really, it’s the warmth that leaves her off balance. You know, outside of the fact that this is the first time she’s seen him as Oliver Queen since she figured out who he is.

Smooth, Smoak, she warns herself. Be smooth. And don’t mention that you know his secret. ‘Cause that would be bad.

“Um. Steele. Walter! Walter wants to me. Meet, now. Elevator. Gotta go. Bye.” Her words are rapid fire and apparently, all have been chosen at random. So, if he hadn’t…taken away her brain function with his eyes, then they would have possibly come out in order.

Instead of…that.

Taking advantage of the fact that Oliver looks, well, mostly confused, Felicity stabs the ‘up’ button and manages to walk into the elevator door as it slides open. Turning around, she stares at Oliver as she jabs the button for Walter’s floor.

Praying the elevator will take pity on her.

It does and Felicity slumps back against the wall and reaches out to rub her forehead.

Felicity knows she was born with the awkward gene. She’s well aware that it goes hand in hand with her foot-in-mouth gene. But that? That was beyond awkward. That was…Felicity doesn’t even know what that was, she just knows that she most definitely wasn’t _smooth_.

Oh dear God, it wasn’t smooth. Huffing out a breath, Felicity lets her head drop back against the side of the elevator and closes her eyes.

She _really_ needs to start processing this.

* * *

 When she runs into the Hood, _again_ , Felicity is pretty sure he’s stalking her.

At the very least, she’s pretty sure he’s been keeping tabs on her and somehow knew that she goes for a run in the park by her apartment on the mornings when she’s _really_ stressed.

Like now.

Now would be a time in her life when she’s really stressed because she’s doing something covert from Walter Steele that she probably shouldn’t be doing and she’s really kicking herself about her latest stellar interaction with Oliver Queen and…no processing time has come up yet.

She’s too busy being stressed.

So, here she is, sweating it out as she jogs through a park early in the morning while it’s still sort of dark because winter is coming.

The steady rhythm of her feet hitting the pavement and the noise of a city beginning to wake is distracting enough that Felicity begins to relax slowly as she runs. Everything, she decides, will be okay in the end.

She’ll figure out a way to process everything she knows and she won’t be weird about what Mr. Steele is asking her to do and she’ll figure out a way to tell Oliver Queen that she knows his secret – without blurting it out in such a way that going in hibernation is necessary.

Yes, she can do all of that.

Right up until someone grabs her arm and yanks her off the pavement she’s jogging on. Before she can really react to what’s happened, she’s pressed against the trunk of a tree and the Hoods mouth is on hers, hard and desperate.

He’s kissing her again. He’s actually kissing her _again_.

What the hell is going on?

Felicity pulls away from him. Well, she pulls away as far as she’s able considering he’s got her pressed against a tree and she really doesn’t have a lot of room to move.

You know, after she kisses him again because…he’s a _really_ good kisser, okay?

“If you’re stalking me, I’m going to have to hit you. Because this is so not how I envisioned my run to go. I sort of figured the most exciting part would be nearly getting hit by a cyclist.”

Crap, her voice is all weird and breathy and hitches a little when he shifts against her, pressing his lower body more firmly against hers.

It totally does not give weight to her threat.

Predictably, the Hood doesn’t say anything. Because why would he? So far, he’s said only a handful of sentences to her. Mostly because she’s done pretty much all the talking since they’d met.

Hey, she was nervous and her mouth lets everyone in the near vicinity know that.

“Felicity.”

There is it is again. The way he enunciates her name. Like, it’s something that he really like saying and she bets he knows it makes her all warm and fuzzy inside when he says it like that.

“No. Nope. Whatever you’re about to say is immediately vetoed. Normal people don’t drag other normal people off a footpath to kiss them senseless. That’s not something normal people do.”

He pauses at her words and Felicity wonders if it would be possible to have fit one more ‘normal’ into that sentence.

She doesn’t think so but then, she didn’t really try.

“Felicity - ”

Again with the name, Felicity thinks. Rolling her eyes a little even as she cuts him off.

“Uh-uh. No. Not normal. No matter how good a kisser you are.” Felicity snaps at him, and then winces, as she probably shouldn’t have said that. “Don’t get smug. This is not normal. I don’t normally get accosted by a vigilante and kissed senseless,” Because that was really the least normal part of what’s happening between her and the vigilante. Really.

“Kissed senseless?”

“ _That’s_ what you took from that sentence?” Felicity asks incredulously and then narrows her eyes because she suddenly realizes that he’s not trying very hard to disguise his voice.

Oh dear God, is he going to reveal himself to her in the middle of the park?

He’d better not. She’s not entirely sure what she’ll do if he does. It’ll just become another thing for her to have to process.

“Look, I’m in IT. The most abnormal thing that happens to me is occasionally a virus that proves tricky for like, five seconds. So…can you put me down? Or back off? Or – ”

It’s like a magic trick, it really is.

She hasn’t even finished asking him to – well, Felicity isn’t sure what she was going to ask him to do when he obviously hears something and then just disappears.

To be fair, Felicity actually catches him as he sprints away from the tree he had her pinned against and across the street, melting into a side alley and completely disappearing from view. But honestly, if she hadn’t been paying attention, she’d be left standing there with no idea what happened or where he’d gone.

See? Magic trick.

But not the least of her problems.

Apparently, the Hood likes kissing her because why would he accost her in the middle of the park this early in the morning? But does that mean Oliver Queen likes kissing her? Or is there a split personality thing going on that she doesn’t know about?

Frustration wells and Felicity almost stomps her foot because really? This is all beginning to be so annoying.

She so deserves time to think about his and work through it. Preferably with mint chip ice cream and absolutely before the Hood kisses her again.

Or Oliver Queen shows up in her office randomly.

Either way, she totally deserves time to process this before she blurts out to him that she knows.

Then she snorts because right, that’s so _not_ going to happen.

* * *

As it turns out, Felicity is right.

Oliver Queen shows up at Queen’s Consolidated looking for her with a laptop that’s definitely not his.

She knows it’s not his because, well, he’s a billionaire she’s pretty sure he can afford a brand new top of the line laptop that probably wouldn’t look as well loved as this particular laptop. Actually, the more she thinks about it, the more she’s sure Oliver Queen probably has the latest MacBook Pro.

He seems like a Mac man.

Anyway, the point is that this is definitely not his laptop, which means that in all likelihood the laptop is related to his…other personality.

Which she bets fifty bucks the only _slightly_ intimidating bodyguard who walked in with him knows about.

Otherwise, Mr. Diggle would definitely have to have suspicions as to where his client disappeared to on what would probably be a fairly regular basis. He would be a terrible bodyguard if he didn’t know what Oliver actually did at night and her estimation of him would drop by like, one thousand points because she bets he has one of the best senses of humor, like, ever.

Not that she would tell him that he’d lose points for not knowing because, well, that would reveal a secret she’s pretty sure Oliver still thinks she doesn’t know and…Mr. Diggle is bigger than Oliver and it’s a bit intimidating.

Though he gets major points for teasing Oliver when she brings up Facebook.

The Facebook thing also shows Felicity something about Oliver that she’d sort of known but is now absolutely glaringly obvious.

Oliver Queen is a really terrible liar.

Like, now that she’s actually concentrating on Oliver and not the fact that the Hood kissed her, Felicity can see _just_ how bad of a liar he actually is. She thought that maybe she’d sort of imagined it.

Nope. He’s a terrible liar.

Which becomes glaringly obvious when he had no idea that his ‘friend’ worked for Queen Consolidated in a factory that got shut down.

She’s sort of itching to tell him that.

“Derek Reston worked for my father?”

“You weren’t really close friends, huh?”

If she could have yelled ‘oh, snap’ she so would have. Except, he has this look on his face that suggests he doesn’t really find it that funny and you know what? Maybe the comment was a _little_ passive aggressive but hey, she knows and he’s a bad liar and, oh yeah, he _kissed_ her in the park three days ago.

So…he can find it as unfunny as he wants but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s helping him because she can’t exactly refuse.

She hasn’t quite figured out a way of saying ‘hey, I’m not helping you with your illegal activities where you dress up in green leather and kill people and then kiss random girls you keep saving before disappearing and hoping said girls don’t notice who you are.’

Actually, Felicity thinks, she probably _could_ say that but she doesn’t think it’ll go down very well.

Although, Mr. Diggle might find it funny.

So, she helps. Sort of. Felicity passes on the information she knows about QC’s steel factory closing down and why Derek Reston’s story is one that happened to over fifteen hundred people and, okay, maybe at the end of it she’s even more passive aggressive than at the start but really? He keeps showing up and thinking she doesn’t know and its sort of aggravating because she is _not that dumb_.

Apparently though, he thinks she is and because she still doesn’t know how to confront him – ‘hey, you look good in green leather’ is probably the least appropriate way of opening the confrontation – Felicity shuts down the laptop and hands it back to him.

Oliver accepts it, looking preoccupied as Mr. Diggle stands and shrugs into a blazer, before offering a smile and informing Oliver he’s going to get the car.

Subsequently leaving her all alone with Oliver Queen.

Because that went _so well_ last time.

“So, um, I will be leaving you. Farewell.”

And if that sentence doesn’t make her seem like a dork, then Felicity isn’t sure what will. Farewell? Seriously? The fact that it’s a coherent sentence doesn’t even really make up for her word choice. It really doesn’t.

Oliver blinks a little at her words and he seems to be considering his reply. Possibly trying to figure out how to top ‘farewell.’ Felicity wishes he wouldn’t because, well, he’s standing in front of her and she suddenly realizes that she’s been _kissing Oliver Queen_.

It’s like something clicks in her head as Felicity realizes that Oliver Queen found her in the park three days ago and yanked her off the footpath to kiss her.

Not the Hood. Oliver Queen. Because…well, Oliver Queen is the Hood and why does she have to be having this epiphany _now_? Why couldn’t she be having this fun little thought somewhere in a dark room where Oliver Queen isn’t.

Felicity must make some weird strangled noise as the enormity of these random actions with the Hood who is Oliver Queen actually start to dawn on her.

“Felicity? Are you alright?”

Lie, Felicity, she tells herself. And don’t give away that with or without the green leather, she really likes how he says her name.

“Sure. I’m fine. My cat died this morning,” So lying, possibly not her thing and yet, she plunges ahead. “He was a good cat, really. You know if a cat can be considered good. I always thought they were a bit too haughty. Like, the entire species has to always remind us humans that we worshipped them like a bazillion years ago and don’t you forget it. They’re also really calculating. Like, have you ever looked at a cat and realized that you’ve done something to it? They sit there and watch you and it’s like they’re planning their revenge. It’s freaky.”

Lying is definitely not her thing and Felicity is wincing internally even as she sincerely hopes that Oliver will be distracted enough by her thoughts on cats to not ask how her fictional cat died.

He isn’t.

“I’m sorry about your cat. How did he die?” Oliver delivers his apology sincerely, only looking slightly baffled by her ramble and Felicity gets the impression that despite the fact that he probably lies to _everyone_ , Oliver tries to be authentic in all his interactions with people.

And authenticity implies being sorry over a fictional cat she made up so she doesn’t say something stupid like, ‘Good job with those one per centers. Do you normally kiss girls in disguise or am I just special?’

“Thank you. He disproved the theory that cats always land on their feet.” Felicity tells him, sort of praying that Oliver will leave now.

So she can go back to freaking out over the fact that she’s only really made the connection between the man standing in front of her and the man in the green hood.

Maybe there is something to Oliver theory of pulling the wool over her eyes, after all.

“Oh. Well, I’m still sorry.”

“Thank you.”

Silence begins to stretch between them and Felicity ends up biting her lip as Oliver’s gaze steadily stays on her. His gaze is almost inquisitive as he watches her and Felicity can’t help but watch him back.

The man standing in front of her seems almost deceptively calm and yet, he’s still tense, like he’s on alert for something she has no idea even exists. As authentic as he is, Felicity is pretty sure that there is a seriousness to him that hides demons he most likely doesn’t talk about.

Whoever Oliver Queen was before he was marooned on an island for five years – and she and the rest of the world are all aware of what who he was before the island – it’s not who has come back.

Biting her lip, Felicity feels a blush start to creep up her neck when his eyes flick down to her mouth and darken.

So, apparently, Oliver Queen before and after the island is still a man.

Before she can do anything else or even really think of anything to blurt out, Oliver’s phone chirps and he starts. He’s quick as he reads the message and then he looks up, offering her a shadow of a half smile.

“Thank you for all your help, Felicity. I’m sorry about your cat.” He says and she just nods at him.

Felicity watches as he walks from the office, raising her hand in what she knows is probably a weird half salute before slumping when he’s out of view.

So, Oliver Queen is the Hood and the absolutely reality of that connection made itself known to her.

Rubbing her forehead, Felicity decides that tonight? She is going to process.

And boy, is there a lot for her to process

* * *

For Felicity, processing begins and ends with mint chip.

A _lot_ of mint chip.

She’s pretty sure that, right now, she’s in the process of eating her body weight in mint chip because…well, because Oliver Queen is the Hood and she’s kissed him.

Or he kissed her. Or maybe, really, they kissed each other. It doesn’t really matter because it’s all just semantics.

The point is there’s something really strange about knowing that the Hood is Starling City’s returned billionaire playboy.

Mostly because Felicity is pretty sure there’s some logic to it. She’s heard all the news reports about the whole marooned on a deserted island thing and well, five years on a deserted island?

 _Something_ was going to change.

She didn’t know him before the island and even she can tell that he’d almost had a personality transplant on that island.

To be fair, though, as obvious as it is that his personality has changed the logic behind the switch from playboy to vigilante is tenuous at best mostly because…well, Felicity highly doubts that most people who were marooned on a deserted island come back and end up putting arrows in the cities elite.

Tom Hanks certainly didn’t.

No, Tom Hanks delivered a package and then stared at a road. Oliver Queen came home and became a vigilante.

Somehow, Felicity doubts that he spent a lot of time talking to a volleyball while living on an island, as well.

Frowning at the fact that she’s not doing well with this processing thing, Felicity shoves another spoonful of mint chip into her mouth and thoughtfully stares at the snowman on her screen.

She’d figured that Disney would make processing better.

It hasn’t.

As evidenced by the fact that she’s _still_ shoveling mint chip into her mouth while sitting on her floor and contemplating the fact that Oliver Queen is the Hood.

She sucks at processing.

Why, she wonders, did he decide to approach her? What was he thinking when he decided to ask her to look at that laptop? Did he even think of the fact that he’d kissed her senseless before approaching her? Was he so confident that she wouldn’t have known? Why was he doing what he was doing? Why keep kissing her even after introducing himself?

And why, seriously, did he wear leather pants?

There are too many questions and Felicity groans. She’d been irritated by the Hood when she didn’t know who he was, when he was this mysterious man who she found ridiculously attractive.

Now? Now she’s solved his identity and is now left with an even _more_ complex mystery than before.

Why the hell is Oliver Queen moonlighting as a vigilante?

Before Felicity can begin to really think that one through, the clang of someone landing on her fire escape causes her to jump and lose control of her mint chip and spoon. The spoon flies in a graceful arch and clatters to the floor as the ice-cream carton lands _the wrong way up_.

It was melting before. Her mint chip was melting and as Felicity stares at the carton upside down on her floor, she absolutely knows that when she picks it up, the ice cream is going to slide out of the carton.

And she’s not stooping so low as to eat ice-cream off her floor. She’s _not_ going to do that. She has dignity and, well, she can’t remember the last time she cleaned her floors so she could get some horrible disease if she did.

So, that’s the end of her last carton of mint chip.

Felicity sits on the floor staring at her upended ice cream, with Elsa the Ice Queen singing in the background and she hears a clang again.

Oh, he’s so going to get it now.

She hasn’t processed who he is. He keeps showing up in her life and charming her into doing tech to help his illegal activities and he keeps _kissing_ her. It’s really difficult to get the green paint he wears on his face off hers, okay?

It’s annoying and irritating and she _hasn’t processed this_.

And now she can’t because she has absolutely no mint chip. It’s gone. Because Felicity bets he’s standing on her fire escape waiting for her to come out. So he can kiss her again. Or…or convince her to do something illegal or actually tell her who he is.

Even though she knows but it’d be nice for him to tell her too.

Pursing her lips, Felicity feels irritation being to bubble into anger and she stands up. Stalking into her bedroom and out to her fire escape, Felicity decides she’s going to tell him exactly what she thinks of him.

Screw processing and approaching it in a way that wouldn’t offend him.

He’d made her spill her mint chip, so, just, screw him and his really badly kept secret identity. She’s going to tell him that and then…then, she’ll feel better and make him go and buy her some more mint chip.

Because he’s a billionaire by day and he can absolutely afford to buy her mint chip.

Throwing open her window and climbing through it, Felicity has it all planned out in her head. She’s not going to babble and she’s not going to mention his pants and she’s not going to let him kiss her.

Nope, none of the above is going to happen and she will be strong as she tells him who he is and how she knows and demands payment for keeping his secret in mint chip.

Felicity is absolutely determined to do this right up until she steps onto her fire escape and finds him slumped against the railing, pressing a hand to his side…that’s dripping blood.

“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” She yelps, mint chip and yelling completely forgotten.

“I don’t need to be told that.” He rasps at her and then, much to her shock, he reaches up with his other hand and yanks down his hood.

If there was ever a moment where Felicity could claim this so was _not_ her life, now would most likely be it.

Because Oliver Queen is standing on her fire escape, dressed in leather, bleeding from his side after what she supposes was meant to be the dramatic reveal of his secret identity.

Except it isn’t a dramatic reveal because she already knows he’s Oliver Queen.

So, Felicity, running on instinct, says the first thing that comes to her mind.

“You owe me a tub of mint chip ice cream.”

He stares at her words even as she blanches. Because that was not helpful, that was not helpful at all. She blames it on the fact that she still hasn’t processed any of this.

Oliver pitches forward, interrupting her train of though and Felicity lets out a noise that _may_ have been a cross between a yelp and a squeal. It quickly turns into a grunt because most of his weight lands on her shoulders and Felicity suddenly realizes she has to get him into her apartment.

“Okay. Okay. Wow. You’re heavy.” She mutters, trying to maneuver him through her window and into her apartment.

As her whole body strains under his weight, Felicity grits her teeth and, well, this whole thing would be so much easier if she’d had time to _process_ this.

But she hasn’t and now he’s revealed himself to her and is bleeding all over her fire escape and…

…and she’d thought she was in trouble before.

Yeah, right.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I hope you enjoyed this and...yes, there will be a sequel for this. I'm building a universe in my head that revolves are these two and, well, hopefully you'll all stick with me as I sort it out! 
> 
> In saying that, as a warning, the follow up and fall out to Felicity knowing won't be up for a while. My exam block is coming up at University and I, unfortunately, have four exams. Which doesn't sound like a lot but the amount of content I have to study is amazing, to me anyway. So, in conclusion, there will be a sequel but there may be a bit of a wait.
> 
> Unless I choose to willfully procrastinate and then, look out!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think, reviews always make any authors day!


End file.
